Accidentally Alive
by notthemostcreativeone
Summary: Ashley had lived an interesting life as a youngster, seeing dead people and listening as one of them whispered of an amazing, warm world. Only when she's old enough to move out on her own does she knock something over, something so small, so unimportant and yet so amazing. Rated M for a reason. OCx11th
1. Chapter 1

She'd lived her entire life, watching the impossible happen, even as a babe. The orphanage would notice as a small babe she would learn new words that no one could have taught her. As she grew even older she began learning the names of the people around her deceased loved ones. Never once did she find what she had done odd, never once had it bothered her. As she grew even older she had one ghost who visited her more frequently than the rest.

She recalled all of the amazing things the ghost had told her.

Of orange skies.  
Of silver leaves.  
Of red grass.

With such an amazing world being placed within her imagination, it was hard for her to cope with the world around her. It was much too cold, much too blue. Blue only reminded her of sadness, but orange and red reminded her of happiness and warmth. Within the world she was borne to, she only ever knew coldness. All she wished for was a bit of a warmer place. So when the world around her refused to give her the warmth she needed, she created her own little escape.

Within her escape was the ghost who constantly whispered about this place where she felt she belonged. The woman referred to herself as Enolda. She was a tall woman with grey eyes and orange hair, and she made her feel just as warm as she had always wanted. The woman had always called her "Armoas," but every time she told the woman her name was Ashley, the woman shook her head and repeated Armoas once more.

Every time Ashley asked Enolda where everyone else was, the woman grew silently a solemn, a wry smile finding a way to her ashen face before she'd respond with, "We weren't very good, and what happened was something you're not ready to learn my dear Armoas." Ashley would only frown and go back to picking red sand up in her hands and letting it fall through the cracks between her fingers.

But as most of the good things that happened in Ashley's life, the strict call of her name caused the sanctuary she imagined around her to visibly crack until she woke up to see the ceiling of her room. White walls, no posters, grey carpet, one bed, one night stand, one dresser. A plain room, an eerily plain room with no decoration, nothing that made the room hers.

At the second call of her name, Ashley frowned and slid from the bed and padded her way to her adoptive mother's room. She frowned at the clothes strewn everywhere, the messy sheets and the half dressed man she didn't know in her mother's room. She frowned at the sight, her grey eyes focusing on the woman, rather than the unknown man.

"Yes mom?" She frowned a second as the woman lazily leaned upwards, not seeming to care that she was entirely nude. "Can you go get me another beer, honey?" The woman slurred, her dark eyes lidded and her dark hair a wild mess. Ashley nodded and walked into the kitchen, grabbed the usual beer and gave it to her mother before going back to her room.

Ashley's adoptive mother originally hadn't been the way she was. She was a happy woman with a husband and they both worked nice jobs. Her mother couldn't bare children, however, and so Ashley had been adopted when she was four. Many didn't want her due to the fact she eagerly spoke about their dead loved ones and shunned her. But when Ashley's adoptive parents had met, she'd walked up to them, touched her mother's belly and smiled as she said, "Hello future baby," before walking back to play on her own, as she usually did.

However, life wasn't always berries and cream and her mother and father had divorced after a really bad fight related to the fact her father cheated on her mother. Since then she'd been practically ruined, quit her day job and began to work from the home. She slept around and went out with her "girlfriends" and came back in a similar manner to how Ashley had just seen her.

Occasionally those who had adopted her off came back to check on her, and Ashley made sure her mother was up and coherent enough to not worry her previous caretakers. As Ashley saw it, a mother who might have barely been there was a lot better than a lot of the other options.

Most of the time Ashley could take care of herself. She was only ten, but she was an independent master of making macaroni and making sure her mother was fed. She walked to school every day, which kept her nice and strong and healthy. When she had doctor appointments, she got her mom out of bed and made it each and every time, and made sure she was never late.

So while her life was not amazing, it was not horrible. While her mother could have taken a more mature route to coping, everyone had their flaws. Ashley just hoped it didn't continue on for any longer. She loved her adoptive mother and hated to see her hurt and to keep herself from hurting, she escaped to her dream land with Enolda and let her pain fade away.

To others, especially those at school, Ashley was distant and quiet. She was as smart as the other kids in her class, but laziness typically kept her from her full potential. Instead of spending countless hours on her book report, like she should have, she did it the night before and managed a C+. For tests she barely paid attention and got lucky with guesses. All she did was float along by. Whenever her school work was done she went back to her magically warm place within her mind.

But as Ashley grew older, the things Enolda began to say sounded more and more crazy. Ashley began to question her own sanity. She gave herself credit, though, she was damn creative. Enolda revealed more to her as she grew older, telling her the place in her dreams was called Gallifrey, told her that is where she was born. Apparently Ashley was an alien and the only reason she hadn't been found out was because she was sent far away. She'd heard of a time war, and of a man who was fire and ice and rage, he was an oncoming storm.

The more Ashley listened the more she considered turning herself into a psyche ward. None of these things were believable, no matter how much Enolda insisted upon it. Not to mention, Ashley was certain there was only one heart within her chest. While she might have seen some dead people when she was younger, the only thing that remained was the imaginary place within her mind and Enolda. Everything else gave way to realizing the world was a harsh place and you either conform or get attacked. Ashley decided to be quiet and conform, which eventually brought about a loss of her seeing ghosts.

Instead she was stuck with a mad woman in her imagination, telling her she was an alien and that a man in a blue box was the last of her kind. Frankly she found it a bit absurd. She knew her life wasn't wonderful, but that didn't cause enough stress in her life to be imagining what she was. Instead she stuck with the fact she was damn insane and needed to be locked up for a while until Enolda would go away, or at least until she stopped talking about boxes that were bigger on the inside.

Ashley sighed as she walked back into the apartment she and her mother owned. Her high school was farther than the elementary school had been, and just like then, her mother was immature and wasting her life away. And with the developments from Enolda, Ashley only ever had one thing to focus on; school. Before she had been lazy with her school work, but now it was all she had. Her smarts were proven over and over again, and at the age of eighteen she graduated and went to a university.

Unknown to her, that was when her life really started, and it was completely by accident. She had been moving when her rear bumped a box that spilled onto the floor and knocked a particular golden fob watch wide open.


	2. Chapter 2

Hellosweetie4737; Thank you for the review! Sorry the start is a bit slow, but things will get moving pretty soon. C:

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Ashley let out a light groan as she pushed herself upwards, her brows knitting together as she stared at the ceiling of her mother's apartment before she pushed herself to her feet. Her head hurt and her memory was a bit fuzzy, plus her heart rate was beating a lot faster than she was use to. Shaking it off, Ashley picked up the last few boxes and moved them into the moving truck before she began to clean up the box had fallen. She paused as she noticed the opened fob watch, her eyes widening a moment as she flipped it over, attempting to find the cause of it opening.

"Can't believe I never noticed this watch before." She mumbled softly before pocketing the watch and grinning slightly. "I could use it to dress up as the White Rabbit for halloween." She snickered before shaking her head and scouping the remaining items into the box and bringing it down to the moving truck. She closed the back of it and turned her head towards her mother and the small infant in her arms, causing her to smile.

"Well, this is it, mom. Now that I'm done with uni, I need to get my own place, get my life started. You take care of Charlie, okay?" Ashley paused as her mother swallowed a lump in her throat and carefully hugged both Ashley and Charlie. "You know Ash, just before we adopted you, you came running over, put your hands on my stomach and said, "Hello future baby," and right then and there we new we needed to adopt you." Ashley's mother sniffed softly as she pulled away from the hug. "Too bad Mark didn't stay around, but good riddence. You've turned into the best child I could've wished for. I wont make the mistakes I made before." Ashley smiled and nodded to her mother. "That's good mom, but I gotta go. I'll text you the number to my land line when I finally get it." Ashely sighed as she attempted to calm her odd heart beat before climbing into the moving truck.

She lived about a half an hour away from her mother's apartment, her home was a small one-story flat with a small backyard and seemingly friendly neighbors. Sadly, Ashley couldn't quite visit until she finished her unpacking.

By the time Ashley was done, she was ready to pass out, her body somewhat tired, though strangely she was not exhausted as she had been. She expected to have the moving truck two days longer. The first day to get the bul of everything out, the second to finish up and turn in the truck. Instead she got everything done and was mildly tired.

Shaking her head, Ashley closed the moving truck up and found the beaten up couch she had for years and laid down, her eyes slowly sliding shut, something she wished she hadn't done.

"WHY?!" Ashley snapped up, but she didn't wake up, instead she was stuck in her imaginary world, something she hadn't seen in a long time. Her eyes grew wide as she looked over towards Enolda, the source of the yell. "You weren't supposed to open it, not yet, and.. Agh! What were you thinking?" Enolda hissed as Ashley sighed and shrugged. "Look, I know you're part of my imagination, and I know my imagination is rather out there, but you're supposed to have disappeared. My doctors said so. They said you were made because my mom couldn't be there for me. You were like.. a crutch. Something to get me along 'til my mom got better, that's all." Ashley grumbled back to her supposed imaginary friend.

"What? You.. you don't remember, anything, at all?" Enolda seemed surprised, tears gathering along the top of her lower lip. "You were supposed to remember. Supposed to come save your dad and I..." Enolda collapsed to her knees, earning a confused stare from Ashley as she lay nearby.

"Obviously I can't save you, so give up. I don't need this in my life. Whoever you were, are, you need to get away from me. I stopped seeing dead people a long time ago. I don't have any powers or anything. I'm just normal old Ashley Whitburgh. I went to the university, graduated at twenty three, and now I'm moving in my own place. I'm gonna get a job as a veternary tech. I'm going to volunteer at the pound, help take care of the animals. Then I'm gonna meet a nice boy or girl, settle down, maybe adopt a child or two and live my life out happily, until I die. You're just part of my imagination. I got over you, I got over this place, so leave me alone." Ashley hissed out angrily as Enolda gasped and wiped her face free from the tears.

"Armoas..." Enolda whimpered out as Ashley stood and frowned. "I'm not Armoas! I'm ASHLEY!" She growled out angrily as she shut her eyes tightly. When she opened them she was awake, but she wasn't on the couch. She was standing up, just like she had been with Enolda. Ashley shook her head, frowning as she wiped off her forehead from the sweat. "Criminy, I thought I was past all of this." Ashley sighed as she flopped back down on her couch and let out a soft cough.

"Great, I'm getting sick, that explains it." Ashley groaned as she picked up her phone, unlocked it with her code, went to her contacts and pressed on a number. "Ah yes, hello, this is Ashley Whitburgh, I seem to be coming down with something and wanted to get it checked out to make sure it doesn't get worse. Ahh, uh, cough, fast heart beat, sweating, possible fever. Tomorrow at two? That's wonderful, I'll see you then." Ashley frowned as she looked out the window within her living room and looked at the moving truck. Tomorrow she'd have to get her mom to bring her car over so she could get to the doctor on time.

Once more she pulled up her phone and pressed a number. "Hey mom? Tomorrow I'm going to the doctor.. Nono, just a bit of a cough and a fever, I'll be fine, really. I just need you to follow me to the moving truck dealership so I can drop it off, drive you Charlie home, then head to the doctor. Is that alright? Yeah, I don't mind Charlie's car seat at all. Alright, see you then." Ashley sighed as she dropped her phone on the coffee table in front of the couch and dragged her hands down her face while giving a soft groan. Tomorrow was going to be a very long, uncomfortable day.


	3. Chapter 3

I honestly don't like this chapter much. It feels a little rough and doesn't flow as much as I'd like it to. I may come back and redo it, but over all I got what I wanted to say out there, at least. Again, sorry about this chapter. Chances are I will redo it later.

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Ashley sighed softly as she tugged a hand through her hair, her palm resting against her forehead. She still felt so warm and feverish. Her heart rate was still faster than normal, and her imaginary friend continued to try getting her attention, much to her irritation. All she wanted was a normal life. She didn't need the aliens Enolda spoke of, and her name was definitely not Armoas. She was Ashley Whitburgh, born in Liverpool and lived there all her life, despite the fact everything tended to be busy most days. She spent most of her time at home, with her mom, and now in her new place, she'd live alone, and work. Eventually she'd find a man or woman, get married (or domestically partnered) and live the rest of her life happily.

In her plans, there was no room for aliens, and definitely no time. She was a busy woman. Better yet, she was a busy human woman. Nothing else.

Ashley chewed gently at her lip as she entered the hospital, trying to calm the quick beating of her heart. Everything was fine, and she didn't feel anxious, and yet her pulse felt faster than ever. The new energy didn't help any, either.

She walked into the hospital, checked herself in, waited for an aide to come get her, take her temperature, which was surprisingly low for how warm she felt. 60 degrees, yet she felt on fire. She was quickly led to the examination room, where she waited for a good five minutes. Soon enough her doctor stepped inside and smiled as she asked Ashley to sit on the examination table. She waited a moment as the doctor went to use the stethoscope to check her breathing before moving it towards the left part of her chest.

"Doctor, what's up?" Ashley paused as the doctor once again placed the stethoscope against her chest before lifting her wrist to check her pulse.

"How is this even possible?" The doctor whispered, her eyes wide a moment as she stared at Ashley. "Tell me, when you were born, did they ever mention birth defects?" Ashley paused a moment and shook her head. "I don't remember anything. I was in an orphanage for a really long time, but no, I've never had any issues." Ashley paused as the doctor rubbed her chin in though and shook her head. "I have no other way to say this, but it sounds like you could have two hearts, almost. I mean, I could be wrong. How about we get an ECG and make sure this isn't an odd arrhythmia, this doesn't seem too serious, so we'll take a look at you in a few days." The doctor smiled as Ashley frowned and stared at her doctor. "What about my  
low temperature?" Ashley frowned as the doctor shook her head and gave a strained smile. "Just get home, get warm, and come in when you get the call, alright?" Ashley nodded as the doctor stood up before leaving the room, allowing Ashley to leave soon after.

At the news her doctor had given her, Ashley was a bit lost. She had heard about two hearts before and it came from Enolda. But the doctor seemed surprised, like it was something she had just heard of.

"No. No. There is no way I'm buying into this. It's all part of my imagination. Maybe I just have a really fast heart beat because I'm sick. Or an.. arry.. arrythmusia? Whatever the doctor said. That's it. It'll all get fixed and life will go back to normal." Ashley nodded to herself, forcing a smile to her  
face as she walked back towards her car, confident that whatever was wrong with her could be easily fixed.

As she made her way to her car, she heard an odd whirring noise, causing her eyebrows to furrow together. As soon as she'd heard it, a blue box had appeared out of thin air. Ashley's eyes grew wide as she dropped the keys to her car, stepping back a moment to lean against her car. She must have been really sick to start hallucinating.

Quickly, Ashley reached down to her keys and began to attempt to unlock her car with shaky hands. Her breathing was quicker than usual, her heart rate was picking up even faster as she fidgeted with her keys, only to have the life scared out of her as someone tapped her shoulder.

"Excuse me miss?" Ashley bit into her lower lip before turning around, her eyes growing a bit wide at the sight of the man. Somehow, he was familiar, but she recalled a far different face.

"Uhm, yes, hello, who are you?" She squeaked out, her eyes widening as she pressed her fingers to her lips and flushed. "Look, I need to get home, the doctor said I needed to rest, really." Ashley bit into her lower lip as she shifted her weight from foot to foot as the man seemed to be at war with himself. From the looks of him he jumped from happy, to disbelief, then to elated, to pure curiosity.

"Ah, well, I may have something just for that! If you trust me enough that is. Pretty sure I've got a trustful face, just not one people listen to. Bit odd of a combination there, huh?" The man spoke a mile a minute, nearly confusing Ashley as he urged her to follow him.

"I- but- What about my car?" Ashley blinked as the man chuckled and shook his head. "We'll be back in about five minutes to get your car, don't you worry." He grinned as he lead her to the TARDIS, helping her inside. Once he did Ashley paused, whispered, "Enolda was right," before falling forward. She nearly fell face forward before the man who had escorted her caught her and shook his head.

The Doctor sighed as the female slept, his head shaking as he stared over her form. At first he couldn't believe what he had felt. If his feeling was right, and typically they were right, then the girl was like him and he wasn't the last of his kind. If that was the case, then why didn't she react in a way he might expect? She acted like someone who- no, she acted like a human would. Something didn't add up here. He was nearly certain of what he felt, but the way she acted said differently. He frowned a moment as he checked the time and smacked his forehead. "I said five minutes, darnit!" He quickly ran from the woman's side, picked up the apple and moved the TARDIS back to dear, little Amelia Pond's home. Hopefully when he woke up, the woman would be a lot better and not quite so likely to pass out due to a box being bigger on the inside.


End file.
